


Dark Room and Murder

by olyxer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Academia, Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Journalism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Photographer, Badass Rey, Crime Scenes, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, Interns & Internships, Journalism, Murder Mystery, New York, POV Rey (Star Wars), Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Soft Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2020-10-27 02:24:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olyxer/pseuds/olyxer
Summary: “I was partnered up with you by Snoke for the murder that occurred on the NYU campus this morning.”“He did what?” Ben asks.His reaction startles Rey. “Y-Yeah…”“I don’t even know you, or even know your work. How is this going to work?”Rey, a journalist, and Ben, a photographer, are forced to team up together for a murder that happened in New York City. Will they be able to work together?





	1. Dark Room

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! I'm fairly new to this and hope you guys enjoy! Any type of feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, everyone!

The aroma of coffee going through the air. The sound of feet shuffling. The shouts of the baristas filling the room.

“C’mon! The drive-thru line is super long! We need to pick up the pace!”

Rey was already really sweaty trying to pick up orders. She takes a deep breath and takes a moment before getting to the register to take people’s orders again.

_ You can do this. You can get through the day, _ she thought to herself.

It didn’t really help that they were already under-staffed today. Especially because they were in the middle of a heat wave in New York City. Everyone, specifically tourists, had been ordering cold iced drinks all day.

The coffee shop is a huge building and has a modernized look to fit in with the architecture of the usual New York buildings. The entry has a small stairway leading into glass windows and doors with a wooden roof above the main door that says “MANHATTAN MOCHA”. Inside and to the right, are where all the registers are located and have decor above with bags of coffee beans. There’s a big screen TV in the lounge area with brown leather couches in the left area of the coffee shop, where all the customers are seated. Every employee wears a black apron to fit in with the theme of the coffee shop. 

“Hey Rey, you wanna go home? You’ve been working overtime,” the coffee shop manager, Jyn, leans on the coffee machine and gives Rey a serious look.

Rey was already at the register ready to make an order and awkwardly looks at Jyn. “Um…” Rey mumbles and looks at the customer. “I’ll take over. You go home and rest up, okay?” Jyn shifts in front of the register and types in her employee number. 

“Thank you,” Rey whispers and smiles. 

Jyn smiles back at Rey and then at the customer. “Hi, what would you like today?”

Rey walks towards the back to the break room. She goes over to the keypad, types in her employee number, and clocks out. Working 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. shifts were always tough for Rey and had her physically exhausted by the end of the day. Now, she had to go to the New York Times and mentally prepare herself for her usual evening internship there.

Rey had graduated with her Bachelor’s degree at New York University and was aiming for a Master’s degree, but became physically and mentally drained with the work overload assigned by the professors and their perfectionism. 

_ If I’m writing news and features stories at school for unit credits, I can do this for an internship and put in the same amount of hard work and actually gain a platform and social recognition. Plus, it looks good on a resume, _ Rey always thought to herself. 

But the problem with her internship was dealing with all the sexist middle aged men she has to intern with. She didn’t understand why she was being treated like this, especially because she knew her written work wasn’t so bad. It also didn’t help that the New York Times was very male dominated. Rey knew she deserved some sort of respect for all the time management and hard work she put into her stories. But she didn’t care. Even though at the end of the day she was fed up and mentally exhausted, she still loved doing what she does best. She loves being an intern for the New York Times despite all the hard obstacles she goes through. 

Rey takes another deep breath and takes off her hat and apron and hangs it up along with her nametag on the rack in the break room. She grabs her clothing from her plain leather tote bag in her locker and goes to the bathroom to change. Rey’s choice for her outfit today was plain but professional; kind of minimalist, the way Rey liked her style. She chose some trendy plaid pants with a short sleeve v-neck bodysuit; a short sleeve for the crazy heat wave. Rey would have worn a long sleeve like usual but she can’t tolerate the heat and feeling sticky. Which is why she chose to transfer to New York City from California, because she loves the cold. She puts on her small and simple black heels, and walks up to the mirror. She takes out her lazy dutch braids and runs her fingers through her hair to add volume. Her hair looked curly due to sleeping with her braids wet overnight. 

“Okay, just one finishing touch,” she mutters. She adds a peachy, almost red, lipstick and mascara to make herself look… not like she’s been up since 4 in the morning.

“Good enough,” she whispers to herself and walks out of the break room bathroom. 

Rey goes behind the counter to make herself a quick coffee. She knows it’s busy so she tries to hurry up as fast as she can. Jyn looks behind her from the register and gives Rey a weird, but funny look. Rey looks back at her, “I’m so sorry! I need coffee to keep me alive!” She yells over the cafe’s loud chatter. She grabs her reusable environmentally friendly coffee cup and pours her coffee. Jyn laughs and shakes her head at Rey and continues ringing up the customer. Rey steadies her coffee cup and runs out the door.

The New York heat wave hits Rey as soon as she walks out. She gently wipes her forehead and starts walking south in Manhattan towards 8th Avenue. She gets the usual catcalling while she’s walking which she scoffs at, being used to it due to the filled streets with men of New York.

When Rey first moved to Manhattan, she will admit, it was difficult to deal with the catcalling. In California, there wasn’t as much catcalling than there was in New York. On an evening while walking back to her apartment from her internship, a man had called her _ mami _ and whistled at her. Rey almost punched the man in the mouth, but maintained her patience and just flipped the man off. But, it’s something she had gotten used to since she walks to work and her apartment every day. Rey had dreaded getting a car, but she doesn’t make much financially anyway. And, it’s New York; everything is walking distance.

She gets to the New York Times building and looks up at the beautiful modern building.

_ I can never get tired of this view _, she thinks to herself.

The New York Times building is one of the tallest buildings in midtown Manhattan with 52 floors. Rey has never been to the rooftop or all 52 floors, nor does she plan to because of her fear of heights. She always stays within the first 15 floors of the building, since that’s where the writing and print mostly takes place. The building is a silver skyscraper, and has black and cursive font letters that say “THE NEW YORK TIMES” in the front of the entryway with enormous glass doors. The building is filled with, who knows how many, glass windows. Citizens from the outside can see journalists at their desks working. And, at night, is when Rey loves it the most. The golden lights of the meeting rooms and desks fill up the streets and she can see everything from the outside when she’s walking back home. For her, it feels like a dream.

She walks into the building and holds the glass door with one hand while her coffee is in the other for the people behind her. None of them say thank you, as she expects, but she always does so anyway. She takes the elevator to the 10th floor of the building to approach the main floor, where all the writing and meetings take place. The floor is more chaotic than usual, which surprises Rey. The loud chatter and people running around makes her anxious. This is something she should be used to since she works in one of the busiest coffee shops, but today feels _ different _ to her. 

She sees Finn seated at his

cubicle. Finn is one of Rey’s good friends and was the only man in the whole department who didn’t care about her being one of the few women in the News and Features section. He would hang out with her during lunches and would always offer to edit her stories at two in the morning when Rey was having a panic attack about whether her story was good enough to get published. Rey appreciates him so much and considers him one of her best friends. She knows that he will never judge her, and will always be there for her no matter what.

Rey quickly runs up to his cubicle, being careful not to spill her coffee. “Finn, what’s going on?” she asks, setting down her coffee at his desk. “What’s with all of this commotion?” 

Finn finishes typing his sentence on the computer and looks up at her, “Have you not looked at the news?” 

Her brows furrow, “No, I haven’t had the time this morning. What happened?”

He takes a deep breath. “There was a body of a 21 year old girl that was found on the campus of NYU. The NYPD don’t have a lead yet.”

Finn stands up and starts walking away. Rey grabs her coffee and follows after him. He leads her into the main meeting room. The meeting room has a big wooden table in the middle surrounded by black, modern chairs that can fit almost thirty people. The walls were a wooden pattern to make the room look more professional and the air was filled with the smell of coffee. The room was filled with journalists and photographers and their eyes were focused on the big screen TV tuned into the news on the middle part of the wall.

“_ A 21-year-old woman’s body was found on the New York University campus today around noon in a garbage can near the school’s main cafeteria… _”

Rey is shocked to hear the news of a young girl being murdered. She knows there’s usual crime that happens around New York; robberies, drug deals, and assaults, but never murders. It’s like Rey wants to grieve for this girls life that was taken away so quickly, and she doesn’t even know who she is. For a moment, she sees herself in this young woman and can’t imagine what and how she would have felt during the last seconds of her life. 

Rey stops her train of thought and takes her focus off the TV and looks at Finn. “Who’s going to write the story? This is huge, Finn.”

“We don’t know yet,” Finn takes his focus off the TV and looks at Rey. “Snoke called a mandatory meeting not too long ago surrounding this story. I-I know I’m not going to volunteer. This case is going to be huge and a lot is going to need to be investigated and covered.” Finn chuckles.

“What if I volunteer?”

“Peanut, I really believe you can write an intriguing story to this, I really do. But, think about it. Will Snoke really let you considering how sexist he is?” 

Rey rolls her eyes and lets out a deep sigh. “I’m going to push him, Finn. I really want to write this story. This is my chance at going big in this industry. And, maybe… it will give out a message to women like me to not let men put them down.” 

Finn smiles, “I’ll be here for you peanut.” He grabs her by the shoulders, “C’mon, let’s go to that mandatory meeting Snoke announced.” 

Rey is lead out of the meeting room by Finn, and they walk towards the elevator. She plans on talking to Snoke after the meeting to let her write this story. She’s nervous, which is surprising because Rey is not really the nervous type. She usually has a lot of confidence and doesn’t let anyone get in her way of doing what she wants to do. But this is Snoke. This is her boss. She knows she has a reason to be nervous, especially because he thinks the women’s work are “too emotional”, he once quoted. But, Rey needs to do this. Maybe, she thinks, it will gain her the respect she knows she deserves here in the department. 

Finn presses the button on the elevator to go onto the 5th floor. The elevator is crowded with other journalists who are also on their way to Snoke’s mandatory meeting. Rey is squished in the corner with her arms crossed with a pen and reporter’s notebook in her hands. The elevator is filled with whispers.

“_ Who do you think will be assigned this story? _”

“_ I hope I get to investigate along with the department’s best photographer _.”

The elevator doors open, and Finn and Rey walk together to the meeting room. The meeting rooms all look the same; big wooden table, leather black modern chairs with a big TV placed in the middle of the room. While Snoke is waiting in the middle of the room, they take their seats next to each other on the far left side of the room. Rey’s nervousness grows bigger once she sees Snoke. She takes a deep breath so the anxiety won’t get to her.

“Good morning, everyone. I assume you all know what has occurred this morning,” Snoke announces while he’s pacing around the big wooden table in the room. “A life of a 21 year old woman was taken away too quickly. And, while this is breaking news, this story will still be ongoing but needs to be investigated. I need to assign a journalist to write the breaking news story as soon as possible. But, I also need a journalist and a photographer to work together to investigate this story. It’s not everyday that a murder happens in New York, so this story will be big.” Snoke finishes his statement and crosses his arms while looking around the room. The room grows quiet and everyone looks at each other, waiting for someone to say the first word. 

Finn raises his hand confidently, “Sir, I can write the breaking news story. I can start right now, if you’d like.” 

Snoke nods and says, “I approve, Finn. Go ahead and write that right now. Remember, it’s a breaking news story so it doesn’t have to be long. Also, make sure the lead isn’t more than 150 words, please.” 

Finn nods, and quietly gets up. He gives a quick smile to Rey, pushes in his chair, and leaves the room.

Rey watches Finn leave, and then looks around the room. She sees everyone in the room is just as nervous as she is by observing their facial expressions and body language. She looks around one more time to make sure no one is going to volunteer before she is, and raises her hand. Snoke raises his eyebrows at her and chuckles. “You’re volunteering to write the story?”

Rey nods confidently, “I believe I have the skills to investigate and write the story professionally, sir.”

Everyone in the room laughs at Rey. They laugh at her because she’s only an intern, and assume she doesn’t have as much experience as the other journalists do. Rey looks around the room with her brows furrowed.

“Does anyone else want to volunteer?” Snoke asks.

The room, again, grows quiet. 

“You guys should be ashamed. An intern wants to take your place in this story and investigation.”

“It’s not that, sir. We just want to see if she’ll actually be able to go through with this investigation and write a good story,” a random man shouts out with a smirk. 

Rey’s nervousness now turned into annoyance. She doesn’t genuinely understand why Snoke is like this, and how these people can get away with saying such things in a professional work environment. Her patience was growing thin.

“Okay then.. I’m sorry what’s your name?” Snoke asks again.

“Rey. It’s Rey, sir. And don’t worry, I’ll make sure to write one of the best investigative stories that will be written here in the New York Times.” Rey grins.

“Okay, _ Rey _. I will assign you to this story, and I’m trusting you with it. You will be partnering up with Ben Solo.”

Rey nods, unsure of what to do next. She looks around, and everyone’s eyes are on her. “U-uh. So, are you going to tell me what to do next?” Rey asks.

Snoke rolls his eyes, “I just stated you’re partnered up with Ben Solo. I assume you know that means to go to him, correct?”

Rey nods and doesn’t want to say anything further. She knows if she opens her mouth at this instant, she’s going to lose it. She hates how she’s talked down upon, but she loves this internship so much that she doesn’t want to let it go. She calmly grabs her reporter’s notebook and pen, gets up to push in her chair, and leaves the room. Once she’s out of the room, she uses her notebook as a fan. She had gotten hot because of the annoyance that had risen in her. And the New York heat wave isn’t really helping her, either. 

Her next move is to find Ben Solo, whoever and wherever that is. Rey has never associated herself with the department’s photographers, since she usually just writes the stories and they find whichever photo of theirs fits best before it can get published. Rey begins to walk towards the elevator even though she doesn’t know where she’s going. She sees Poe Dameron, the editor in chief, seated at one of the big desks. Poe Dameron is considered to be a flirt, but surprisingly has never been rude to Rey. She would have assumed for him to be one of the sexist men, since he’s attractive and in one of the high positions, but he isn’t. She doesn’t know why he’s so nice to her, but doesn’t really question it for wanting to have mutuals in the department. 

Rey walks over to Poe’s desk. Poe sees Rey walking over to his desk and gives a confused look. 

“Hey, Rey, is everything okay?”

Rey is surprised he even remembered her name, considering they have had little conversations just about stories and what needed to be edited. 

She smiles, “Hi Poe. I just have a quick question.”

“Sure, go for it.”

“I got assigned to write the on-going story for the murder case that happened this morning, and have to partner up with Ben Solo…” she bites her lip, “Do you know where he is?” 

Poe raises his eyebrows, “Congratulations, Rey. That’s actually a big accomplishment,” he smiles. “Ben Solo is going to be located on the 15th floor. Although, he’s usually in the dark room, which is on the 16th floor. So, I’d check there first.”

Rey nods, “Thank you, Poe. I really appreciate it.” She gives him a big smile before she walks off. 

She walks towards the elevator and clicks the number 16 button. She’s nervous to meet Ben Solo, since she’s never even seen him around the department. She’s been hearing that he’s one of the best photographers in the department, so she wonders if that’s true. If true, Rey can’t wait to see the type of photography that he does. Is it street? Action? Architectural photography? The elevator dings and opens onto the 16th floor. The ding made Rey jump and lose her train of thought. She walks out and the floor is calm and quiet. She sees photographers on the computer with the PhotoShop program open and editing photos. Rey assumes it’s for upcoming stories that are waiting to be published. She sees a big room with a dark door across the room and suspects this is the darkroom Poe was talking about. She walks towards the door with her reporter notebook and pen in her hands. She opens the door and the room is extremely dark with bright red hues. She’s never seen anything like it and observes the room.

“Can you close the goddamn door please?!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t know.” Rey closes the door behind her and sees a bulky man with broad shoulders standing over a table, obviously focused on something.

“Are you Ben Solo?” Rey asks.

“Who’s asking?”

“Um… Rey. I’m a News and Features writer in the department.” Rey walks slowly over to the man, not wanting to invade his space.

“Yes, I’m Ben Solo…” he turns around and eyes Rey. His lips go into a fine line. “Next time, make sure you don’t open the door too widely. It can ruin the photos being developed.” 

Ben Solo is a very tall man, Rey expects him to be over six feet, since her head only reaches his chin. He has black wavy hair that reaches his broad shoulders. He’s wearing an olive green henley long sleeve shirt that makes his biceps look abnormally large. While Rey is making eye contact with Ben, she observes his face – long face, full lips, and a long nose. It’s like she’s finding this man attractive, but is very intimidated by him at the same time, and she’s only known him for a maximum of five minutes.

“I’m sorry, Ben, it won’t happen again,” Rey says. She stops walking towards him and stays behind him, not wanting to interrupt whatever he’s doing.

“So, _ Rey _... what brings you here?” He turns around and leans on the table with his arms crossed. “I’ve never heard of you.”

“Ditto…” Rey says trying to break the awkward tension. “I was partnered up with you by Snoke for the murder that occurred on the NYU campus this morning.” 

“He did what?” Ben asks.

His reaction startles Rey. “Y-Yeah…”

“I don’t even know you, or even know your work. How is this going to work?” He raises his hands in irritation.

“I’m not a bad writer, Ben. Maybe if you would read my work, you would know. Besides, that’s what teaming up is for. We’ll get to know each other along the way.” Rey rolls her eyes.

Ben lets out a deep sigh and shakes his head, “Well, I guess this will be fun…”


	2. Problem with You

“You know I can still hear you, right?” Rey crosses her arms.  
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Ben says, “Let me finish developing this photo and we can start our… _assignment_…” Ben takes his eyes off of Rey and turns back around to face the counter.

Rey couldn’t believe she was being teamed up with one of the best photographers in the department and turned out to be one of the assholes. She wishes she can be teamed up with Finn, or even _Poe_, for Christs sake. But, it wouldn’t really work out with two writers. Rey was never good at collaborating on stories with other journalists.

Rey begins to walk around the dark room and stumbles upon some street photography being  
hung up on a string above a sink filled with water.  
“Please, don’t touch anything…” Ben says behind her.  
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to take these photos down _very_… gently…” Rey is reaching out to take the photos down jokingly, barely even touching them. She wants to uplift the awkward tension that’s roaming through the room.  
Ben turns around, “Don’t.” He lays his elbow on his left arm against his chest and puts his right hand on his forehead, expressing his impatience.  
Rey giggles, but stops when she sees Ben’s frustration. “I wasn’t actually going to touch the photos. You can smile, you know?”  
Ben walks over and grabs his camera from the counter near the front door. “We have work to do, Rey,” he says and walks out the door. Rey sighs and says to herself, “Wow, this really will be fun…” She leaves the room to follow Ben and speed walks to catch up to him with the sound of her heels echoing the quiet floor. “So, what are we going to do first?”  
They approach the elevator and Ben presses the elevator button to the main lobby to leave the building. He tightens his jaw, “We’re going to the crime scene because it’s still active. _You_ need to get witnesses or quotes from people who knew the girl,” he looks at her, “I’m just there to take pictures.” Rey nods and the elevator doors open. Ben steps inside and Rey follows.

The whole elevator ride was awkward for Rey. She feels really intimidated by Ben and she doesn’t know why. Is it because she finds him extremely attractive? Or because he’s so blunt? She imagined the experience of meeting Ben to go much different. Rey is so good with people, which is the reason why she decided to go into journalism. So, the experience not going so well with Ben is surprising for her.

The elevator opens and Ben walks his way out of the building through the crowd of people quickly and wraps his camera around his neck. Meanwhile, Rey is trying to make her way through to catch up to Ben, _once_ _again_, crashing into people’s shoulders. “Hey!” she yells, “Can you slow down? Why are you in such a rush?” She finally catches up to him, trying not to grab onto his shirt to be able to keep up with his pace. Ben looks at Rey while they walk towards the stairway that leads into a subway to take towards New York City.  
“Remember, we need to get to the crime scene as soon as possible,” he says.  
“Right…”

Ben and Rey walk side by side in silence. They’re now walking at the same pace as Rey was finally able to keep up. He walks up to the ticket window to buy himself and Rey a ticket to New York City. Rey’s eyebrows furrow when she sees Ben buying the ticket. Although the ticket doesn’t cost much, the random act of kindness shocks her considering how Ben has been acting towards her. They both stand next to a bench full of senior women waiting for the subway. Rey opens her mouth to say something, but is interrupted by the loud noises the subway train makes while approaching. They wait for the subway to make a full stop and for the crowd of people exiting. Once the path is clear to walk in, Ben and Rey enter and take a seat next to the benches near the door. It’s 3 p.m. and the subway is crowded with citizens getting out of work and trying to get home to their families. Because it’s so crowded, Rey and Ben’s shoulders touch while they’re seated side by side. Ben doesn’t seem to mind it, because it’s typical New York, but it makes Rey nervous. She can smell the spicy fragrance of his cologne, and _man_, does it smell good.

Rey clears her throat, “Thanks for paying for my ticket,” she smiles at him.  
He doesn’t make eye contact, because they’re so close ー even within kissing distance.  
“You can return the random act of kindness by buying me a coffee,” he says.  
This is probably the nicest thing Ben has said to Rey, and it makes her smile bigger. She looks down to make sure he doesn’t catch her smiling so big and blushing.  
“That’s no problem for me.”

* * *

Ben was feeling nervous around this woman he’s never seen before at the New York Times. She didn’t really intimidate him, he actually softened around her. The way she giggles. The dumb jokes she makes. The sweetness of her fragrance.  
But, because he’s so used to the department being full of men, he doesn’t know how to act around women. He _knows_ he’s coming off as an asshole. He can’t help himself. He’s actually not like this.

Rey is the first one to break the silence. She’s trying to speak over the loud chatter of the subway, “Hey Ben…”  
He sees her lips moving, but can’t really hear what she’s saying. He lowers his head closer to her mouth so he can hear her better. From the corner of his eye, he sees Rey just stare at him dumbfounded.  
_Is she intimidated by me?_  
“Um…” she mumbles. She puts her mouth close to his ear. “What kind of coffee do you like?”  
_There’s no way she’s really trying to have this conversation right now._  
Ben chuckles and leans away from Rey. She stares at him, waiting for a response.  
The subway starts to slow down, the sound of the engine making a sinister, loud noise and comes to a stop. Ben looks out the window and sees Rey.  
“We’re here.”

They both stay seated until the crowd of people carrying suitcases disappear out into the city. Rey grows impatient and gets up from her seat first. Ben eyes her as she walks out of the subway, and gets up quickly to follow her. As Ben walks behind her, this is when he really starts to eye her up and down. The tightness of her short sleeve bodysuit _really_ shows off her curves and her flared pants make her behind look petite ー but very rounded. He catches himself checking her out and shakes his head. _What am I doing?_ He questions himself. He can’t do this, he’s going to have to work with her for a while on this case. This isn’t professional of him. He starts to walk beside her and says, “The NYU campus isn’t far from here, so we should be reaching there soon.”  
“I know, Ben. I graduated from there.”  
“Oh… I assume this must be hard for you?”  
She looks at him with a surprising look, “Yeah, it is, actually…”  
She stays quiet and doesn’t say anything else. And, he doesn’t really know what to say either. He hopes that she gets to break the silence, but she never does. So, they walk the whole seven minute route in silence.

They approach Washington Square Park located in the center of the NYU campus with a colossal, white, entrance that appears to inspire Greek architecture surrounded by modern New York buildings. Along with the buildings, there’s a fountain shooting out water from the ground with students sitting on cement benches circling the fountain. The campus is fully packed, which is expected because it’s the middle of the week so they’re extremely busy ー walking back and forth from class to class, library to class, class to their dorm. Ben and Rey stay together and he makes sure of that so he doesn’t lose her. After all, this is an assignment and he doesn’t want to gain a bad reputation for not doing his best work, or even worse ー getting fired.

While they’re walking through the crowd of students standing and trying to see what’s happening at the crime scene, Ben notices Rey having a hard time getting through. She’s getting pushed around from students moving side to side, and he assumes it’s hard for her because she’s so petite. He stops for Rey and offers his hand, something he would _never_ do. Rey looks at him in shock, and hesitates taking his hand, but takes it anyway in desperation to get out of there.  
He notices Rey is looking away and notices her cheeks turning red. She clears her throat, “Thank you.”  
Ben lets go of her hand, and puts his arm over her shoulders to bring her to his side but releases them right away, to not give her any wrong idea. He looks at Rey, and gives her a small grin. “Anything for a free coffee.”  
She giggles and puts a strand of hair behind her ear.

Ben sees the bright yellow crime scene tape from afar with NYPD cop cars flickering their red and blue lights. He begins walking faster towards the cafeteria, with Rey behind him. Once they reach the cafeteria, a policeman stops him. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”  
Ben takes his wallet out to show the policeman his press pass, “I’m a photographer for the New York Times. I’m here to work on the case.”  
The policeman nods, and looks at Rey, “What about you?”  
Rey opens a couple sheets of paper from her reporter’s notebook and reveals her hidden press pass. “I’m a news and features writer for the New York Times,” she says.  
The policeman raises his eyebrows and points his head towards the direction to the doors of the cafeteria, gesturing that they’re okay to enter.  
They cross under the crime scene tape and walk quickly towards the doors. Once they enter, it’s completely empty. The wooden colored tables and chairs are neatly pushed in and the mini buffet located in the middle of the floor is clean with no food in the trays, showing that no one has been there since they closed last night.  
“I hope they have cameras showing that maybe the man or woman entered through here?” Rey says so unsure.  
“I wouldn’t be so surprised if they just went around the building.”  
Ben begins taking pictures of the cafeteria with his vintage looking camera, focusing mainly from a wide perspective. Although the crime scene isn’t _inside_ the cafeteria, he’d like to have the setting in the paper to give the readers an image in their head along with the story to see how everything looked like the night of. While he’s looking around with his eye to the viewfinder on his camera, he sees Rey standing writing in her reporter’s notebook, with her back straight ーvery proper posture. She’s standing so straight, the arch of her backside looks _extremely_ curvy. He slowly drops the camera, but raises it quickly again to his eye when he notices she’s very distracted. He sneaks to take a quick photo of her because she’s glowing underneath the natural lighting of the cafeteria and looks so _beautiful_. He smiles to himself, and turns away from her since she never notices him taking the photo. He resumes taking photos of the cafeteria.

* * *

Rey is taking notes on her reporter’s notebook. She’s writing down the cafeteria setting just in case a photo wouldn’t make it into the story. She looks up from her reporter’s notebook and turns around to see Ben still taking photos.  
“Are you ready to.. Um.. Possibly see a dead body?” she asks.  
“That’s a nice way of putting it,” Ben chuckles.  
“I didn’t mean it that way. I-I’m just nervous,” she puts down her reporter’s notebook at her side, “This is actually one of the biggest assignments I’ve ever worked on.”  
“I assumed so,” Ben starts walking towards her, “I’ve never seen you around the department.”  
Rey grins, “Yeah, I mean… Most of the time Snoke is ordering me around to get him coffee.” She shakes her head. She’s hoping she doesn’t make Ben feel uncomfortable again by disclosing some bit of personal stuff, but surprisingly, this time he responds.  
“I guess that’s Snoke for you. It seems like he makes any woman around the department do that.”  
Rey rolls her eyes. She was hoping he would give her an ‘_oh, that sucks_’ answer, or even an ‘_that’s unfair, women don’t deserve that._’ But, why would he say that? He’s one of the assholes.  
Or is he? Is he just disguising himself as an asshole and he’s actually nice? She can’t really tell. The actions he displayed earlier are giving her mixed signals ーhow close he was to her face on the subway, holding her hand, putting his arm around her even for just a second. She’s never seen a man in the New York Times display even a small amount of care, besides Finn, but that doesn’t count because he’s her best friend. She’s actually _enjoying_ it coming from Ben. She finds him so attractive and she sucks at hiding that she finds him so captivating. He’s probably even noticed it by now, and she’s trying to shrug it off.  
Rey notices that he’s getting closer and clears her throat, “We should be getting to where the _actual_ scene is,” she says quickly.  
“Yeah, let’s get going. This story isn’t going to write itself,” he teases.  
Rey gives him a small punch of the shoulder, “Whatever. You don’t know how difficult it can be writing a story. You’re just a _photographer_,” she teases with a mocking tone.  
“A photographer with very awesome and serious skills.”  
She laughs and pushes him jokingly. And, he starts to laugh as well. His laugh softens her tense body. She didn’t realize she had been tensing her shoulders all day. His laugh is like music to her ears.  
They begin to walk to the back of the cafeteria, and pass by a kitchen that was clean as well. There were no dishes in sight, and everything was spotless by the employees. Ben stops at the door that leads to where the garbage is and leaves his hand on the door handle. He hesitates then says, “Are you ready?”  
Rey’s heart begins to race and chooses to lie, “Yes.” She’s actually not ready because she isn’t sure what to expect. Are there going to be detectives and policemen everywhere? Is the girls’ body going to be sliced in half like the Black Dahlia? Is she going to be _unclothed_?

Ben clears his throat and opens the door. She was slightly correct about what she predicted. There were detectives everywhere with photographers on their side. There was also a small number of employees from a forensics team wearing a white head-to-toe uniform with gloves and a mask covering their nose and mouth. This made her slightly nervous, but took deep breaths to be able to cope.  
“Are you okay?” Ben whispers.  
She swallows, “Yes, I’m fine. I can do this.”  
Ben nods and walks towards the policemen. “Do we have any details yet?” He goes straight to the point.  
One of the policemen sigh, “Yes. It’s a very tough one. And, we don’t have a suspect yet. This person was smart and wiped his fingerprints off.”  
Rey begins to take notes, “Sorry to interrupt, but may I have your name sir?”  
The man nods, “Sure. My name is Lieutenant Armitage Hux,” he looks Rey up and down, “I assume we’ll be working close together on this story. They usually report to me first. I can always give you guys the details that can be provided to the public.”  
Rey smiles, “Thank you. Do you guys at least have a lead?”  
Ben is standing next to Rey, listening attentively.  
“From what we have gathered, we have two suspects,” Hux says, “We have the ex-boyfriend and his best friend. It’s hard to tell, and everyone has a different story.” He shakes his head.  
Rey continues taking notes, “Do you think it’s okay for me to view the body?” She looks up from her reporter’s notebook.  
Hux nods, “Sure. But I warn you, that it’s quite… Disturbing.”  
She takes a deep breath and nods.  
Ben walks off to take pictures of the door and the area where the garbage cans are located. Once he’s finished, he goes back to Rey and gives her a nod to show that he’s ready.  
Lieutenant Hux gives a nod to an employee from the forensics team to give them the ‘okay’ to unzip the body bag.  
When it’s revealed, Rey couldn’t believe it. She’s in utter shock and doesn’t know what to say. She stays still and doesn’t look at the body for too long. All of a sudden she’s nauseous.  
“Oh god…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed, I would really appreciate your guys' feedback!  
A big thanks to Lauren for helping me revise the chapter and supporting me through everything. I love you girlie!


	3. Unravel Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: There are mentions of rape and graphic depictions of violence.

Rey can’t believe what she ‘s seeing with her eyes. The body of a 21 year old woman is completely cut up 一 as if someone grabbed a sharp knife and drew for fun all over her body. Why would a human being do such a thing? Her legs were covered with lightly colored bruises, and Rey assumes that she struggled which is possibly a sign she most likely got raped, but this is an assumption; Rey isn’t a detective or a forensics employee after all.

  
  


Rey has both her hands covering her mouth, completely in shock and disgust. Ben looks at her and grabs her by the shoulders again to pull her away from the body.

“You said you were okay with doing this,” Ben says, “Are you sure you want to follow through?”

Rey looks at Ben and feels her eyes filling up with water. She didn’t realize she’s getting completely emotional over this and tries to snap out of it. She’s a journalist. She  _ has _ to put her emotions aside for writing stories like these.

She takes a deep breath, “Yes, I can do this. It’s just hard to look at this woman... Especially since she’s around my age.”

Ben nods. He hesitates for a moment but then says, “I’ll be there with you throughout all of this. We’re working together on this case, remember?”

There it is again. These words coming out of his mouth dumbfounds her. Is he an asshole or not? 

She looks at Ben’s eyes, and  _ really _ looks at them this time 一 making direct eye contact and realizes he has pretty brown eyes that light up when the sunlight hits them. He really does have a way with his words, and this makes her blush.

“Y-yes,” Rey stutters and smiles at him. “Thank you, again. How many times do I have to thank you?”

“Yeah,” he grins, “You should stop that. Supporting each other is a part of working together as a team.”

  
  


_ We’re a team _ , she repeats to herself. Seeing Ben smile is so rare… Not that it’s a bad thing. Those fine lines at the end of his mouth when he grins makes Rey catch herself just staring at him. No answer to his statement. Ben is staring at her and waiting for a response. His brows are furrowed.

“Yes. Yup,” Rey claps awkwardly, “We’re a team.” She throws a thumbs up and Ben continues to stare at her like she’s crazy. 

“Alright…” Rey stops her nervous body swaying, “I should go interview her friends now…”

Rey turns around to begin to walk away, but Ben stops her and grabs one of her shoulders. “We should make sure we have access to be able to get through the interrogation room,” he says, “We’re just journalists, not investigative detectives.”

“You’re right. Let’s clarify with Lieutenant Hux.”

  
  


Lieutenant Hux is surrounded by forensic employees and detectives. They are formed in a circle, and Rey assumes they gathered because they gained some new information regarding the case. Ben and Rey walk side by side and approach the group. Rey raises her head slightly, confidently, to demonstrate competence ー to show that she’s like them. To be surrounded by a group of men high tier in their position is intimidating, but she doesn’t like to show that she’s intimidated. She knows she’s worked hard to get to where she is now. She’s not afraid to display that to them.

  
  


But, there’s something different with Ben and the way he makes her feel. Rey has noticed her behavior is not like her… At all. Around him. She gets nervous, and when she gets nervous, she says her usual stupid dad jokes and sways her body a lot. It feels like college all over again in a speech class and having to present to a large group of people. Except, it’s just that she’s focused on Ben. His eyes are focused on her. And, it’s like she’s on a spotlight.

Rey has no problem with this feeling. At all.

  
  


“Welcome back, guys,” Lieutenant Hux says, “So, the police finally got the ex-boyfriend and his best friend in interrogation. Detectives are with them right now…”

  
  


Rey is really involved with the conversation. But, she becomes distracted and notices that Ben isn’t in the circle anymore. She looks around at the group of men, and then turns around. She sees Ben bending down on one knee a few inches far away from her with his eye to the viewfinder on the camera, taking photos of the group. She smiles at him, and Ben takes his eye off the viewfinder to look at her. He flashes her a grin, and Rey is hit with butterflies in her stomach. 

  
  


She turns around to draw her attention back to Lieutenant Hux.

“Miss,” Hux says, regathering her full attention, “You and the photographer can meet up with the detectives at the police station and interview the detectives… Or whatever it is that you do.”

_ So ignorant _ .

“Yes, sir,” Rey says, and excuses herself from the group of men. She rushes past Ben, and hears Ben’s footsteps follow her.

“Where are we going? And why are you rushing?” Ben asks.

“We’re going to the police department to question the two boys,” Rey says bluntly.

“Okay.” 

Ben stays quiet for a moment, and eventually Rey slows down so they’re walking at a normal pace. She feels Ben’s eyes on her and she looks at him.

“What?”

He looks away, “Nothing. You just seem irritated by something,” he says.

“Since when are you so observant of my feelings?” Rey asks.

Ben chuckles, “Okay, nevermind then. Remember that we’re a team一”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she sighs and looks at him again, “Fine, I’ll tell you only because you asked.”

Ben nods. They reach the exit of the campus of NYU and begin walking east towards the police department. Dinner time is approaching, so the city is loud due to heavy traffic.

“It just annoys me… The way that men talk to me. It’s like they think that because I’m a woman I shouldn’t have this job,” Rey looks away. She’s not really good at opening up to people, especially to someone who she just met. But, he knew something was up. And, for some reason, she felt like she couldn’t keep it from him.

“I think you’re doing a good job,” he says calmly.

That’s all he says. But, it’s good enough for her. All she does it look back at him, and they’re looking at each other. She smiles at him, and he’s the first one to break eye contact. As expected.

“We’re almost there,” he says.

Rey can see the police station from a distance. It got dark out pretty quickly, so the lights of the police station are blaring. And, she can see a couple of men pacing through the windows since the blinds are open. Yup, it’s busy… This is not going to be easy.

  
  


Ben reaches the door, and opens it for Rey to go inside first. He follows her and Rey goes to the front desk.

“Hi, what can I help you with?” the middle-aged blonde woman says through a speaker on a glass window.

“Hi,” Rey grins, “We’re here to speak to detectives regarding the murder that occurred this morning,” she takes her press pass from her notebook and holds it up. Ben grabs his press pass from his wallet and holds it up as well.

“Give me a moment to grab them,” the woman gets up from her office chair and disappears out in the back.

Ben and Rey wait around awkwardly, and eventually two men appear into the lobby. 

One of the men is short, and looks older一 around his 60’s. He has wavy hair, with some gray streaks and a mustache.  _ He’s very intimidating _ . And, it looks like he’s been a detective for a long time. While the other man is  _ very tall _ 一 more than six feet. He’s a giant, and he’s very bulky. He has a big beard, and has wavy hair that touches to his shoulders. 

The shorter man looks surprised to see Rey.

“Wow, you’re not what I expected,” he says.

She has her hand reached out, ready for a handshake, “I’m sorry?”

“You’re very young.”

“Oh,” Rey laughs awkwardly. She doesn’t know what to say. 

“I’m Detective Calrissian,” he says and shakes Rey’s hand, “This is Detective Bacca.”

Detective Bacca doesn’t say anything, and shakes Rey’s hand with a serious look on his face.

“I’m Ben,” he says and shakes their hands, “I’m a photographer with the New York Times. It’s nice to meet you guys.”

“Likewise,” Calrissian says, “Let’s go into somewhere more private, shall we?”

Detective Calrissian and Bacca lead Rey and Ben into a hallway, and stop outside an interrogation room. The police department isn’t anything fascinating to Rey. It’s like any other police department she’s ever been to一 dark hallways, rusty flooring, with gray, boring, walls. 

“We have the ex-boyfriend and his friend in two separate rooms. Where I’m leading you into first is the ex-boyfriend. Kid is really quiet and calm about everything which makes us suspicious. But, you’re free to ask any questions. Don’t force him to answer anything he refuses to answer. If you need any details from your story he left out, you ask us. Got it?” Calrissian says.

Ben and Rey nod. Rey looks at Ben quickly and gives him a  _ You got my back, right?  _ look. Ben grins and nods. 

Calrissian opens the door, and there he is. The boy is in handcuffs, and he’s looking down at the desk. He isn’t interested in looking at whoever just walked into the room.

The boy has short, curly hair, and when he looks up at Rey, has hazel eyes. He makes eye contact with Rey and gets a shiver down her spine.  _ This boy ruined his life too quickly _ .

Rey sits down across from the boy, and Ben takes the seat beside her.

“Is it okay if I record this?” Rey asks.

“Sure. Whatever,” the boy replies.

She takes out her smartphone and opens the ‘Voice Memo’ app. She begins recording and places the phone on the desk.

“How are you holding up?” Rey asks. She tries to be calm to gain his trust. She is doing this for her job, anyway. She’s not here to make the small talk.

“It would be great if they could feed me,” he puts his elbows on the desk and holds his hands, “I’ve been here the whole day.”

“I mean, you  _ are _ a criminal…” Ben mumbles under his breath.

Rey clears her throat to make him shut up. The boy gives Ben a death glare. 

“I’m sorry, I’m not in charge. If I was, I would’ve gotten you something,” she says.

The boy raises his eyebrows, but doesn’t say anything. 

“So, what’s your name?” Rey asks. She has her reporter’s notebook in her lap with her legs crossed, ready to write anything he says, just in case the audio isn’t audible.

“Jacob Edwards,” he sighs irritably and leans back in the chair. He lets go off his hands and lets them rest in his lap.

“I’m sorry, are we wasting your time?” Ben asks.

Rey stops writing mid-sentence, and looks at Ben with a  _ I thought you had my back  _ look. Ben notices, and his lips go into a fine line. He crosses his arms.

“Can you control your boyfriend?” Jacob asks.

Rey looks at Jacob and laughs softly, “He isn’t my boyfriend.” Jacob rolls his eyes.

_ Do we look like a couple or something?!  _ Rey doesn’t really know how to react to this. Is it a compliment or an insult? I mean, Ben is a really good looking man, so she’s assuming they look good together. She takes it as a compliment.

Ben hasn’t really spoken this entire time. But, it’s understandable that he hasn’t spoken because he’s just a photographer. It’s not like he can take pictures of the suspect, although he probably wishes he could.

“How old are you?” Rey continues writing.

“I’m 23 years old.”

“And how did you and the girl meet?”

“The girl’s name is Maya. And we met two years ago. She was my ex-girlfriend,” he says.

“Ex-girlfriend, huh? How was she like?” Rey stops writing and looks at Jacob.

“She was great. She was everything you could find in a woman. She was a major in psychology and she was extremely smart. Had a 4.0 GPA and everything,” he says. Rey notices he has relaxed once he began to talk about Maya, and writes this detail into her notes.

“And, what happened?” Rey asks.

During the whole questioning, Rey can feel Ben’s eyes on her the entire time. It’s very distracting for her, especially because they’re in this  _ eerie  _ setting. She’s never been confronted with a possible murderer before. But, Ben’s company soothes her and makes this process easier. If only he can focus his eyeballs somewhere else, though.

“She broke up with me. I don’t know why,” he says. He doesn’t continue further. He just… grows quiet. And, this makes Rey suspicious. In a break up, it’s usually hard to deal with. You grieve because you just lost someone that you love. But with Jacob, he shows no emotion. And, she just stares at him.

Finally, after a while, she asks, “You wouldn’t have a clue why she would break up with you?”

He shrugs, “I mean…” He leans in and rests his elbows again on the desk, “She was growing close with a guy at her job. I suspect it was that. But, I don’t think there was any cheating during our relationship. I wasn’t an overprotective boyfriend, or anything weird like that.”

Rey nods, and continues to write in her reporter’s notebook. Again, she finds this answer suspicious.

“What’s your best memory of Maya?” Rey decides to get personal, and she does this on purpose. She does want the best story in The New York Times. She’s not doing this for nothing.

Jacob grins, “It’s when I met her at a college frat party,” he chuckles, “She was wearing a pretty red blouse with jeans. And, I could tell she was different than the other girls. She proved that to me when she climbed up onto a table and started dancing.”

Rey smiles, because she’s reminded of the parties she attended while she was in college. But, her smile fades quickly. This girl didn’t deserve this.

She clears her throat again, “So, where were you and your best friend the night that it happened?”

Jacob hesitates, “We were in a Best Buy parking lot. We were just smoking a blunt.”

  
  


Rey is concentrated in her writing, but is interrupted and jumps when there’s a knock on the door.

“Times up,” Bacca states.

Rey nods at Bacca and turns back to look at Jacob.

“We’ll see when we see each other again,” she says. She grabs her phone and stops recording. She gets up, and leaves the room alongside Ben.

“How did it go?” Calrissian asks. 

“It was brief,” she says. “Am I going to be able to question him again? And what about his best friend?”

“You’ll be able to again. We’ll need to know what he told you. There are some things he probably didn’t tell us. But, it’s getting late. And, I need some sleep,” Calrissian yawns.

“Will tomorrow be a good time to come back?” Ben asks.

Calrissian nods, “Come back around noon.”

Ben and Rey nod, and Calrissian leads them out of the building, locking the door behind them.

“Well, that was interesting…” Ben says.

* * *

The walk back to the subway wasn’t so bad. Ben and Rey talked more than usual. They talked about the questioning, and how Rey found him suspicious. She explained to him how he showed no emotion and didn’t really react to their breakup. Ben surprisingly agreed. The weather in New York was still warm, considering there had been a heat wave earlier in the day. After a stressful day, the fresh air felt nice一 the air hitting her face and the waves in her hair flying back with the wind. It made Rey calm down, and made her body go into relax mode. All of a sudden, she had grown tired. 

  
  


During the subway ride back home, Rey yawns most of the time. Ben laughs whenever she yawns because with every yawn, her eyes grow more and more heavy . And her head falls onto Ben’s shoulder occasionally, and he doesn’t seem to mind. It seems to Rey that he’s relaxed with her and has grown soft with her. Not like in the beginning when they met, when he was rude and seemed to have his guard up.

  
  


“We’re here,” Ben says, and he shrugs his shoulder a little bit to wake Rey up. Rey has fallen asleep on his shoulder, and she jumps abruptly. She looks around to see where she is and then looks at Ben.

“I’m sorry, oh my gosh,” she gets up quickly, “I fell asleep on you, didn’t I?” She pats down her pants, removing any wrinkles it gained.

Ben shrugs, “You did. But, it’s fine. I get it. I know how tough this job can be.” He gets up from his seat.

They both walk out of the subway, and they stand outside the doors of the subway. Eventually, the subway leaves, creating high winds and making Rey get hair in her face. Ben’s hair also moves a little bit.

_ God, why is he so attractive _ ?  _ He doesn’t even have to try _ .

Surprisingly, Ben is the first to break the awkward silence. “Are you headed home now? Or are you going to head back and try to write?”

“I was going to try to write, but I’m really sleepy,” Rey yawns.

“Well…” he says, “I was going to head back and develop my photos. I can get someone’s opinion on them.”

Rey looks at him in shock. Ben notices this.

“If you don’t want to, it’s fine. Like I said, I get that you’re tired.”

“No, no,” she smiles, “I want to. I don’t have to work tomorrow morning… Luckily.”

Ben nods and grins, “I can give you a ride after too… So, you won’t have to walk alone in the dark.”

Rey hasn’t really received any car ride homes from men before一 Well, besides Finn. But, Finn is her best friend and that’s different. She usually just walks to her destinations since everything in New York is so close. And, Ben is a man she’s  _ really  _ attracted to. Now that she thinks about it, she hasn’t really had time to date. She’s just been so busy. The last guy she dated was the summer after she graduated. That went really well, but her busy schedule caused them to drift apart. And she was fine with that.

  
  


Ben and Rey walk in silence back to the building. Luckily, it’s not too far from the subway and there’s no big crowds of people, so it makes it easier for them to get back quicker. Ben inputs a code on a pin pad near the entrance of the building since it’s past closing hours. The doors open and Rey and Ben go inside and take the elevator to floor sixteen. 

  
  


“Did you get any good photos?” Rey asks.

Ben nods, “Yeah, mostly just like… Action and street photography. I think it will fit well into your story.”

“I think so too,” Rey says and looks at him, “I trust your instinct.”

Ben looks at her and smiles. Rey feels herself blushing, and looks away before he can notice.

The doors of the elevator ding and open, and Rey is the first one to walk out. Ben walks past her to unlock and open the door of the dark room. Rey rushes into the dark room quickly, because she doesn’t want to get yelled at by him again.

Ben takes his camera off his neck, and walks up to a desk. Rey begins observing him, and he takes the film out of the camera. He begins to do a complicated process with the film, like cutting it with scissors and inputting it into what Rey assumes is a film tank. 

Next thing she knows, he’s putting the film into the water. Rey stands next to him, and the photos start to slowly appear.

Rey looks at all of them, but stops when she sees a photo of… Her? 

“Ben, is that…?” Rey asks.

“Hmm?” 

The photo isn’t fully developed yet, but she can clearly see what it is. She’s standing in the cafeteria writing into her reporter’s notebook. He seemed to have taken it while she was distracted. 

She couldn’t believe this. 

Ben looks to where she’s looking, and all of a sudden, she thinks that Ben stopped breathing. He looks at her and says, “I can explain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, let me know what you think?  
A big thank you to Lauren. You're the one that keeps me going <3


	4. Disclosure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a hiatus, I desperately needed a break and had a bad couple of months towards the end of the year, especially after The Rise of Skywalker. Also, I apologize that I haven't replied to any comments. But, I do read all of them and you guys are so sweet. Thanks for understanding and all the great support, and I hope the fluffiness in this chapter makes up for the absence!

“When did you take this photo?” Rey asks. She desperately wants to pick the photo out of the water, but refuses since the photo hasn’t fully developed yet. 

Ben nervously chuckles and scratches the back of his head, “I was testing out my camera and I guess I accidentally took a photo of you.”

Rey notices that he refuses to make eye contact, and she stares at him and raises an eyebrow, “Is that so?” she asks. 

  
  


Rey knows she isn’t _ that _ naive. Her journalism major required to take communication studies classes, and one unit that stood out to her overall was body language. One thing that she clearly remembers is how lying can affect someone’s body language, and how men usually scratch the back of their head when they’re nervous, or when they’re lying. And, Ben was _ clearly _ lying.

  
  


Ben puts his hand down, and looks at Rey, “Yeah, my fat finger must have slipped and clicked the button to take the photo,” he grins awkwardly.

Rey still thinks he’s lying, but she decides to let it go, so she just nods at him, “Hm, okay.” 

She stands there and asks herself, What is he going to do with this photo? Should she ask if she can keep it so he won’t get any ideas? Her mind is just overwhelmed with questions. But, a second later, she flinches to the clearing of Ben’s throat.

“Would you still like a ride home?” he asks. 

Rey puts her hand on her hip while the other rests on the edge of the sink and looks at Ben, “What are you going to do with the photo?”

He shrugs, “I’ll throw it away. But, I can’t just yet. The photos take a couple hours to develop and can get destroyed and interfere with the other photos I took on film.”

“Well, can you throw it away tomorrow? I don’t want anyone getting the wrong idea,” Rey says. _ For your sake _. 

Ben just nods, and takes the film out of the water. He walks over to the desk next to the sink and begins to clip the film strips on a string to allow them to dry, “I’ll throw it away first thing tomorrow morning.”

Rey crosses her arms, “Just make sure no one sees the photo,” she says and looks away.

“Rey, I heard you,” he says in a warm tone.

  
  


This isn’t an argument, is it? Rey hopes not, especially over a photo. She still has a couple weeks to have to work with Ben Solo. _ Maybe _ it was a mistake, but what if it wasn’t? There’s so many questions that the photo holds, and _ maybe _ Rey can get to it later. Will there even be a later time where they will be able to discuss the photo? She hopes so, since they will be spending so much time together. Rey is just _ so _ interested in this mysterious man, and where he came from, and how he blossomed into one of the New York Time’s best photographers. Time will only tell where their “partner-in-crime” thing will go.

Rey gives him an apologetic and genuine grin, “Is the offer still up for a ride home?”

Ben looks at her and grins, “Yes.”

Ben grabs his camera from the desk and pats his pockets, to what Rey assumes he’s looking for keys to lock up the dark room. He takes them out, and begins walking towards the exit. Rey follows behind him as he opens the door for her to exit. She waits for him to lock up, and looks out the building windows. 

  
  


The New York City Manhattan buildings look gorgeous at night; the colors of a golden yellow and a sunset orange filling up the dark skies of the city. The architecture look perfectly aligned with each other, with the constant blinking of lights being turned on and off of business buildings and residents’ apartments. There’s ruffled sounds of ambulance sirens and the beeps from taxi cabs. Rey suddenly gets hit with a cozy feeling, as if she feels _ secure _.

_ Like home _, she thinks to herself.

  
  


She turns around and looks at Ben, who’s staring at her and waiting patiently for her. She smiles to herself and turns back around to look out the window again, 

“Sorry, sometimes I just like to appreciate New York City. I can never get tired of this beautiful view.”

Rey turns around to look at Ben again, and he’s still staring at her.

Ben locks eyes with her and says, “Me either.”

Rey’s eyes widen and she starts to feel her face get warm. _ Is that what I think it means? Why is he giving me these mixed signals? _ She looks out the window again and says, “Let’s go, Ben Solo,” and begins walking towards the elevator, leaving him behind ー her simple black heels echoing through the room.

* * *

Ben and Rey are walking towards the parking lot located on the corner of the street nearby the New York Times building. They walk in silence, once again, and this time Rey doesn’t seem to mind. There’s a lot of things that she’s thinking about right now; the “unintentional” photo of her, and these unexpected comments coming from Ben. She can’t afford to try to be lead on right now, especially since she hasn’t been interested in a man for a while. She’s come so far in her academic career, her internship, and a financially stable enough job that pays the bills and she can’t let Ben get in her way. But, she’s just going to have to deal with it for these upcoming weeks. 

  
  


Ben leads the way in the parking garage to his black Mercedes-Benz C300 and opens the car door on the passenger side for Rey. She steps inside, and looks out the window. Ben gets inside the car and turns it on and looks at her, “I hate to be the first one to break the awkward silence but you’ll need to lead me to your apartment.”

She looks at him and grins, “Right.”

The car ride remains silent, and Ben and Rey only make conversation when Rey tells him the directions to her apartment. Ben stops outside of the apartment, but doesn’t put his Mercedes-Benz into park mode. 

Rey gathers her stuff, but when she’s about to head out, she stops and looks at Ben, “Do you want to come inside for a glass of wine?”

Ben chuckles, “I’m driving tonight, Rey.”

“I can call you an uber.”

_ Oh, boy, does she sound desperate. _

  
  


Rey continues and smiles, “I just think we should relax for one night before this case blows up even more and there’s no time to relax anymore.”

He sighs, but gives in ultimately, “Alright fine.” He drives out to the side a little from the sidewalk and decides to parallel park in front of Rey’s apartment.

  
  


Her apartment isn't a luxury, it’s a typical apartment a college student in New York City can afford. Rey was able to get one with a view ー a view of the sidewalk with residents walking by day through night. Though, she wishes she was wealthy enough to afford one with a view of the New York Manhattan buildings. 

The exterior of her apartment were the common colors of an ordinary apartment you’d see throughout New York ー beige or dark brown. There’s around 12 windows on the outside, with tiny balconies and staircase attached to at least 5 windows of an apartment. Rey considers herself lucky to not have a balcony because she always fears a random homeless man would camp out there.

  
  


Ben and Rey get out of his car and walk into the lobby of her small apartment complex. The elevator has been broken for a couple of months, so Rey leads him up the stairs to her apartment. Rey takes out her keys, and begins unlocking the door, “It’s not luxury, but it’ll do,” she looks up at Ben and smiles.

“I’m not that hard to impress,” Ben teases.

  
  


She opens up the door and is exposed to her living room. Her living room, dining room, and kitchen all happen to be attached and is fairly small ー like a studio apartment. Except, her bedroom is all in another separate room. She also doesn’t have a lot of furniture; Rey considers herself to be a very organized person and doesn’t like clutter.

Rey thrifted most of her furniture from thrift shops and tried to keep the theme of her apartment minimalist since she likes simplicity. Her living room has a simple gray couch with white simple and fluffy pillows, and a wooden coffee table in the middle decorated with a succulent. Her fluffy white carpet is laid out on the floor, and has no pictures framed on the wall. Her wooden dining table is next to the couch with only 2 chairs, and the TV is set up against the wall.

Her kitchen has wooden cabinets and drawers with beige countertops. Rey can’t really construct and change the kitchen around so she tried to decorate it with as many plants and succulents as she could.

  
  


“Your apartment is so simple,” Ben says.

“That’s the way that I like it,” Rey says and smiles. She walks over to the dining table, sets her stuff down, and takes her heels off.

She looks at Ben awkwardly standing in the doorway, “You can make yourself at home. I’ll get the wine set up soon,” she chuckles to herself. Ben nods and walks over to the couch. When he sits down, he rests his arm on top of the couch, leans his head back, and closes his eyes. 

While Rey is opening the wine, it makes a loud _ pop! _sound and makes Ben flinch. She looks at Ben and is squeezing her lips, trying not to laugh.

Ben looks at her, “You could’ve warned me,” he wipes his eyes, “You just woke me from a peaceful slumber.”

She lets out her laugh and says, “I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would be so loud.” She takes two wine glasses out of her cabinet and serves white wine. She grabs the glasses, walks over to Ben at the couch, and hands over his glass.

“Cheers,” Rey smiles widely. She holds her glass out, waiting for Ben to clink with her.

“Cheers to what?” he asks.

“Cheers to Snoke putting us together to work on this case,” she says.

Ben smiles at her and clinks his glass. They both drink out of their glass at the same time, but Ben gulps it down almost within 30 seconds.

“Woah, Ben, slow down,” Rey giggles.

“I’m sorry, this wine is really good,” he chuckles.

“Do you want another glass?” 

“Please,” he says.

Rey stands up and grabs the bottle from the table. She looks at him and serves him another glass.

“So, Ben, since we’re going to be working with each other for a while,” Rey says, “Where did you come from?” She sits down next to Ben again.

“Oh, so we’re going _ there _…” Ben chuckles.

“What? Is that so bad?!” Rey hits him on his bicep playfully. _ Woah, that was hard _. 

Ben shrugs, “I don’t usually open up to people,” he looks at Rey, “But I guess you’ll be an exception,” he smiles.

Rey feels warm and she smiles back, “I’ll tell you a few of my secrets too, don’t worry.”

Ben continues smiling, “Well, I was born here in New York City. My mom was a political figure. She was the leader of an activist organization group, and my dad was a police officer. But, he passed away a few years ago from a heart attack. I guess his job was too stressful and it impacted him terribly,” his smile fades.

Rey looks at him and all she wants to do is hug him and comfort him. But, she holds herself back.

“I’m sorry about your dad. I’m sure he was a great man and made a positive impact in the community.”

Ben looks at her, “I appreciate that, Rey.”

She grins at him, “What about your mom? Is she still being a leader?”

He lets out a sigh, “I don’t keep in contact with her anymore.” He gulps down his wine again.

Rey continues to look at him, but doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t want to push him further.

“Do you… Do you want another glass of wine?” Rey offers.

Ben chuckles, “No, I’m okay, thank you. I’m sort of feeling it right now,” he leans back on the couch and rests his arm on top of the couch behind Rey.

“What about you?” he asks.

“Oh, I’m not that interesting,” Rey shakes her head.

“I think you are,” Ben says.

Rey blushes and hadn’t realized that their faces have gotten closer, their bodies are almost touching and then it hits her. She moves away a few inches.

“To be honest with you, I come from nowhere. I mean, I was born in Britain, but I don’t have any memory of my parents. I just remember being in an orphanage and being adopted by a man. His name was Ben,” she smiles, “He was a good and supportive man. I miss him sometimes.”

Ben is staring at her with attentive listening and grins.

She continues, “I grew curious and wanted to come to the United States. I applied to UCLA as a film major and surprisingly got in. He let me come here all by myself. But, while I was at UCLA, I realized being a film major wasn’t my thing.”

“A film major, huh?” Ben says and chuckles.

“Don’t ask,” Rey says with a smile, “I applied to various schools that had good journalism programs but for some reason, the city of New York called to me. And, now I’m here.” She takes a sip of her wine.

“Now you’re here,” Ben repeats.

Rey sets her wine down on the coffee table and looks at him, “I told you I wasn’t interesting.”

Ben grabs her chin by his finger and puts her face inches away from his, “I’m not going to repeat myself,” he smiles.

“Ben, you’re tipsy,” Rey says. She feels herself blushing. She’s honestly been blushing this entire night, and she can’t believe he’s in her apartment right now. They started rocky, and now they’re here. Rey would’ve never expected this.

“Yeah, I’m tipsy,” he pulls away from her and puts his hand down, “I should probably go home now,” he gets up.

Rey is left where Ben left her face and stares at the wall behind Ben. She feels disappointed that he pulled away from her. Why did she even say anything? 

“Or, you can stay here,” she says. She looks at the time, and it’s almost midnight. Have they really been talking for that long?

Ben freezes and looks at her, “Where will you sleep?” 

Rey shrugs, “I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

He chuckles, “Don’t be silly. I can sleep on the couch.”

Rey stands up and observes the couch, “If you’ll even fit, you’re a big man,” she giggles. 

After she said that, she couldn’t believe that she did. That didn’t sound bad in her head. Maybe the wine was finally getting to her. After all, she was _ sort of _a light weight. Drinking this wine the night before a busy day probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Now you’re starting to make fun of me?” Ben asks. 

The next moment Rey feels herself being lifted, specifically in a fireman’s carry. 

“We’re going to have to teach you a lesson. Where is your bed?”

Rey is laughing so hard, she can’t breathe. “Ben, please put me down!” Now, she _ really _can’t believe this is happening. This was supposed to remain professional, and she doesn’t know what this is anymore.

  
  


Ben runs to her bedroom, and lays her down. He has both of his arms beside her, holding her down in a way. He stares at her for a while and hesitating. Rey can tell he wants to say something, or maybe even show her something through his actions. But, he just stands there.

“Ben, what are you thinking?” Rey says.

“I don’t know if this is the alcohol talking, but isn’t it funny how when I saw you I disliked you at first? I thought you would be someone completely different.” He chuckles, still holding her down.

“Who did you think I would be?” she tilts her head a little bit.

“Someone stuck up who thought she was better than everyone. But, I get it now. You’re just a confident woman who knows what she wants and she goes for it.” 

Rey doesn’t expect this, and his answer takes her by surprise. She stares at him with eyes open and wants him to make a move. But, she suddenly feels the bed feel lighter. He’s standing up straight above her, and she sits up ー her hair having a voluminous and seductive look to it.

“Sleep with me instead of sleeping on the couch.”


	5. Confidently Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for their patience and the great support.  
I like to take my time and put in as much details as I can. I hope you guys enjoy and I appreciate the feedback!

Ben looks at her with wide eyes, “Rey, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

Rey stares at him and feels butterflies in her stomach 一 and not the good ones. She feels stunned and rejected, but like always, Ben is right. What is she thinking? They have only met earlier that day. But, she couldn’t help that she was so attracted to him, and she thought he felt the same way too. All of the _ special _ somethings that he kept telling her 一 maybe Rey had misinterpreted it. 

“You’re right, sorry,” She puts her hand on her head, “I think it’s just the wine talking,” she laughs softly and nervously.

“Maybe we should just sleep this off,” Ben says.

Rey nods and gets up from the bed, “I’ll get you a pillow and some blankets to get you set up on the couch.”

She doesn’t wait for a response from Ben and walks out immediately from her bedroom. Her face feels hot and flustered while she’s going through her hallway closet to search for some blankets. When she closes the door to the closet, Ben is waiting behind the door and scares her.

She jumps and drops a pillow, “Ben! Bloody lord, what were you thinking?”

He chuckles and picks up the pillow, “Sorry, I wanted to break the awkward tension.”

“You’re evil,” she says. She takes the pillow from him and smacks him softly across the head with it. She walks past him and towards the couch to begin setting it up. She realizes she’s not as talkative and giggly as she was earlier, and can’t believe a man like Ben would have this effect, much like a spell, on her. Did she really care that badly that she got rejected by him? 

“There is something I want to say though,” Ben is already walking towards her.

Rey finishes laying out the blanket and sets the pillow at the head of the couch, “What is it?”

He stands close to her and stares in her eyes, “I know I’m tipsy because of the wine, but I mean this, Rey. You’re a beautiful woman, but I don’t want.. Whatever we have.. Or whatever is going on,” he sighs and continues, “Jeopardizing my job and your internship. This means the world to both of us.”

Rey’s brows furrow, “So you’re acknowledging it?”

“Acknowledging what?” he asks.

She rolls her eyes, “This,” and points her finger back and forth between her and Ben. _ God, men are so stupid _.

“You just asked me to sleep in the same bed with you. Of course, Rey. I’m not that stupid,” Ben chuckles.

“Then, can you please.. For my sake, stop saying sweet things to me? You’re giving me the wrong ideas,” she lets out a deep sigh and puts a strand of hair behind her ear. 

Ben is quiet and maintains eye contact with her. She continues,“If that’s how you feel, then let’s keep our distance and maintain.. Whatever is going on.. Professionally. Let’s just focus on me writing this story and you taking your photographs,” she fakes a grin.

“I’m sorry for giving you the wrong ideas. I’ll try to keep myself in check,” Ben puts his hand behind his neck, “Like I said, you’re a beautiful woman.”

The more Ben talks, the more irritated Rey is becoming. He really doesn’t know when to stop, and it’s aching Rey. She wants him so badly. She just needs for him to stop talking.

“I understood the message,” Rey backs a little away from Ben, “I’m going to sleep now. You should get some sleep too, you’re still kind of tipsy and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

She begins to walk towards her bedroom door, but stops when she hears Ben’s voice.

“Goodnight, Rey,” he smiles at her.

She turns around and returns the smile, “Goodnight, Ben.”

Rey goes into her bedroom and changes into a big t-shirt she thrifted from her local thrift shop, and replaces her pants for some spandex. The room had grown even warmer for her after what happened with Ben. She takes a deep breath, and grabs a makeup wipe to remove her makeup. 

_ God, it’s been a long day _, she thinks to herself while she walks to her bathroom.

She washes her face with cold water, and stares at herself in the mirror. Rey couldn’t believe Ben had just called her a beautiful woman, and not just once 一 _ twice _ . Maybe he did want to share a bed together, but had to stop himself for _ obvious _reasons. He also maybe meant to take the photo that he did.

She shakes her head, _ stop thinking these things Rey, he’s not interested in you _.

She walks back to her bedroom and climbs into her bed. She lays on her side, and stares at the closed door 一 where Ben happens to be right next door.

  
Rey tries to fall into a deep slumber, but unfortunately never does.

Tossing and turning all night, Rey picks up her smartphone from her bedside table and looks at the time. She squints her eyes because of the brightness, _ 2 am?! _

She puts her phone back, and gets up from her bed. She opens the door and walks into the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

“Rey?”

Rey jumps and drops some water on her shirt. She turns around and sees a dark-figured Ben sitting up on the couch, “Do you really have to do that every time?!” 

She walks over to turn on the light, and happens to see a _ shirtless _Ben just sitting there. 

If Rey thought he looked big in just his henley shirt, he looks even bigger with no shirt on. His shoulders are so broad, and his biceps are _ very _toned. It looks like he spends most of his free time in the gym. Not to mention, his chest is boxy 一 clearly in a good way 一 and his abs are defined. It even looks like he’s close to having an eight pack. Rey can feel herself blushing, and she looks away so he won’t notice. Can he get any more attractive than he already is?

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.. Again. I just can’t sleep,” Ben says.

“Do you need some water?”

“Please.”

Rey grabs another glass of water and walks over to the couch. She sits next to him and hands him the glass.

He takes a big gulp and then asks, “Why are you awake?”

She shrugs, “I’m not sure… My brain is so awake. I was just tossing and turning.”

Ben chuckles softly, “Yeah, me too.”

They sit there side by side on the couch in silence for a while. She knows she should try going to sleep, but Ben is _ right there _and shirtless, and she does prefer to talk to him over just staring at her bedroom ceiling.

Eventually, she’s the one to break the silence first, “Earlier, you mentioned you don’t keep in contact with your mom anymore. Why is that?”

Ben takes another big gulp of his water, and finishes it. “You’re just full of questions, aren’t you?”

Rey looks at him and smiles, “It’s why I became a journalist.”

He chuckles and looks down at his lap, “Well, this might shock you, but we stopped keeping in contact because of Snoke. While she was out there trying to campaign, he wrote a lot of negative opinion pieces about her,” he sighs and then looks at Rey, “It affected her a lot, eventually making her lose her position. Because of him, people turned against her and she couldn’t campaign anymore.”

Rey’s brows furrow, “Why are you working for someone who treated your own mother that way?”

Ben looks away, “I guess you can say desperate times call for desperate measures. I wasn’t doing good financially. And, this job offer turned up, the pay is really well and... I just couldn’t reject it.”

Rey feels annoyed. She looks away from Ben and looks down at her lap. 

She never had the chance to ever be with her birth parents, _ bloody hell _ , she can’t even remember them. In her eyes, Ben is considered lucky to still have his mother, and he doesn’t want to contact her because of this? Ben’s mother has every right to be angry, but Rey knows that if Ben were to want to reach out, she wouldn’t hesitate to pick up that phone in a heartbeat. After all, it’s her _ son _. A mother will always love their son, no matter what, at least Rey thinks.

Rey stays staring at her lap, “I see.”

Ben looks at Rey again and furrows his brows, “Is everything okay?”

She knows he can tell something is wrong, but doesn’t try to hide it. She looks at him, “Why don’t you try talking to your mother again?”

He shakes his head, “She won’t talk to me as long as I’m working for Snoke.”

“You don’t know that,” Rey says quickly.

“How do you know that?”

She shrugs, “A parent will never stop loving their child, Ben. No matter what.”

Ben stays quiet, and stares at his empty glass.

The air was filled with awkward tension, and it was obvious Ben didn’t know what to say anymore. Rey kept her eyes locked on Ben, to observe his body language, and see how he reacts. He was obviously tense and uncomfortable. She didn’t like when they were like this, and she would be lying to herself if she said that she can stay mad at him. She wanted to stay up all night with him, and have these meaningful conversations. It was this sudden realization that she _ truly _feels something for him. But, unfortunately, it had hit her that it was late, and they have a super big day tomorrow.

“I’m sorry if I’m coming off as rude,” Rey says.

He shakes his head and chuckles, “No, it’s okay, Rey. I can really use this brutal honesty,” he looks at her again, “It’s something I like about you.”

Rey begins to feel her face get hot, _ wow, what’s new? _ She thinks to herself.

She looks away at her tv remote, and clears her throat, “Do you want to watch something? I’m not really tired, and I can really use something to make me sleepy.”

Ben places his glass on the coffee table, and rests his arm behind her head on top of the couch, “That sounds nice, especially since I couldn’t sleep. What do you want to watch?” he looks at her.

“I rented this movie called Knives In?...” Rey looks at the transparent CD case that’s sitting on her coffee table and picks it up, “Oh, _ Knives Out _, the other night. It’s a murder mystery,” she looks at him, “Do you want to watch it?”

He grinds and nods. 

Rey gets up from the couch and puts in the rented DVD into her Blu-ray player and takes a seat again next to Ben. 

The movie begins silently, followed by some mysterious music and the image of a brick-like gothic Victorian era mansion. There’s a woman walking up the stairs carrying a tray with a breakfast meal.

“I bet you she’s going to find someone dead,” Ben says.

“Shh!” Rey says.

He chuckles, and the music grows from mysterious to suspenseful. The film exposes a man bleeding to death from a slit in his throat.

“Hey, what do you know,” he looks at Rey.

She rolls her eyes and punches Ben lightly on the shoulder, “Are you one of those annoying people that make unnecessary comments during a movie and won’t shut up?” she smiles sleepily.

“Maybe. What if I am?”

“I’ll go back to my room and watch this movie by myself,” Rey looks back at the screen.

Ben pretends to act offended and puts his hand on his chest, “You wouldn’t.”

she laughs and shoves Ben, “Shut up and watch the movie.”

By the time Ben and Rey reach the middle of the movie, Rey’s eyes aren’t able to stay open and her head lands on Ben’s shoulder. She falls into a deep slumber.

The next time she opens her eyes, it’s already early morning and she looks at her phone. 

_ It’s already 5 a.m?! _

Their positioning has switched to Rey’s head laying down on the head of the couch, and Ben being squished in between Rey and the couch. His head is near her breasts, and his big hands are around her stomach. One of his hands can already wrap most of Rey’s tiny waist, so being wrapped in his two hands feels like she’s being suffocated. But, in a good way. She feels safe, and she doesn’t want this moment to ever go away. 

She stretches and shakes Ben to wake him up, “Ben.”

He moves suddenly, and opens his eyes quickly. He realizes the position that he’s in and unwraps himself from Rey. He sits up instantly and looks at her, “I.. Oh my god, I am so sorry,” he takes a big sigh and chuckles nervously.

Rey shrugs, “It’s okay. We fell asleep… There’s nothing we could’ve done,” she smiles sleepily.

He returns the smile but then looks around, “What time is it?”

“5:09 a.m.” 

He stretches, and Rey notices the defined lines of his biceps. She starts blushing and bites her lip.  
Ben doesn’t seem to notice, “What time should we get to work?” he asks.

“Probably around 8 a.m. Snoke will probably call a meeting for an update on the story or something. And then we have to question Jacob’s best friend,” she says.

He releases a big breath, “Sounds like a big day.”

“Yeah.”

They sit there in awkward silence until Ben gets up, “I should probably put my shirt back on.”

Rey looks at him and shakes her head, “You don’t have to. You’re welcome to make yourself at home.”

“I appreciate that. I just want to be a respectful guest,” he says and still puts on his shirt anyway.

She feels disappointed. She wants to be able to look at his abs and arms forever, if she could. The way that they’re acting right now, especially after waking up in his arms, makes her feel like they’re a couple, but unfortunately this is reality, and they’re not a couple. There’s a sudden realization that it’s crazy to Rey that she moved to New York independently, and this random man, a beautiful man _ actually _, is forced to work with her on a project she’s capable of working on by herself. She went from independent and confident to being flustered, loopy, and wanting to cook him breakfast every morning over him ever since she’s laid eyes on him. Who even was she anymore?

Rey gets up and heads straight to the kitchen, “Well, it’s going to be hard to go back to sleep _ after that _, so I’ll make us some breakfast,” she smiles at Ben from across the room.

He smiles, “You don’t have to do that, I was actually just going to stop by the coffee shop and pick something up,” he walks towards the kitchen counter by Rey.

She waves her hand, “It’s nothing really… I want to.”

Ben remains patiently seated at her small dining room table, while the aroma of sausage and bacon fills her apartment. While Rey tries really hard not to stare, she will catch Ben staring at her and smiling occasionally while she’s cooking. It fills her stomach with butterflies, and she smiles to herself while she looks down at the pan. 

They spend the rest of the morning talking about the case, and the theories Rey has about everything. Ben is an attentive listener _ most _ of the time, but during their meal, he was devouring what Rey had cooked and was zoning out most of what she was saying.

“Ben, are you even listening?” Rey asks.

“Huh? What?” he looks up at her with a mouth full of scrambled eggs.

She giggles, “Nevermind.”

He swallows, “Sorry, I haven’t had a home cooked meal like this in awhile. I mostly eat out because I work so much,” he chuckles.

_ I’ll cook for you anyday at any time _, she thinks.

“I understand. I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” she smiles at him.

After their meal, Rey takes a quick body shower, and by the time she’s ready, it’s 7 a.m. She felt like dressing to impress _ you know who _today, and decides to wear a tight mid-length skirt to keep it professional but to show off her curves, with a white blouse bodysuit and her pointy black flats. Her hair is voluminous and curly, just like the day before. 

She gets out to the living room to find Ben sitting on the couch, resting his head on the top of the couch.

“I would offer you my bathroom to shower, but I don’t think you have clothes,” Rey says while standing in the middle of the living room.

Ben stares at her and hesitates for a couple of minutes, “Rey.”

The way her name vibrates on his mouth just makes her face feel really warm. His deep voice already does something to her. 

But, she remembers what he said last night, _ professional relationship _, she repeats in her head.

“Yes?” she responds.

He shakes his head, “Nothing. I appreciate the offer,” he smiles, “I’ll just wash up later today when I get home.”

His home. She wonders what his home looks like, and if he ever gets the feeling of loneliness. She imagines his home to be plain with barely any furniture, since he did state that he’s never at home. If that’s the case, what does he do all day? There’s no way he can spend his time taking photos all day. Maybe he has other hobbies, like writing? If he liked writing, maybe he would’ve pursued that.

Are these the type of questions that are filling in her head now?

“I, um, hate to ask,” Rey shifts awkwardly, “But is it okay if I ride with you to work?”

“You don’t even have to ask,” Ben gets up from the couch and smiles, “You ready?”

She nods, and grabs her thin cardigan, since the weather in New York is still kind of warm.

He grabs his coat from the hallway, and opens the door for Rey. She follows, but stops to lock the door to her apartment. 

They walk down the staircase from her complex outside to where Ben parked. He opens the door to his black Mercedes-Benz C300 for her, and then walks around to get into the driver's seat.

Traffic in New York is nearly as bad as California traffic, so getting to The New York Times building is nearly taking an hour. The car ride with Ben and Rey is mostly filled with silence 一 Ben focusing on driving and Rey writing questions in her reporter’s notebook for the interview with Jacob’s best friend later on in the day. While she’s writing in her notebook, she can’t focus and she thinks about how she woke up with Ben on the couch, and how he quickly disregarded the moment. It internally bothers her, but unfortunately she has to keep to herself.

_ “I don’t want whatever we have jeopardizing my job and your internship.” _

Ben’s words haunt her head. Rey starts to wonder if Snoke knew what he was doing when he decided to pair them together for the case. Is he intimidated by her? Did he want to see her fail? She knows that he knows she’s capable of writing this story all by herself, but he doesn’t want to admit it.

She can’t let Ben be a distraction, _ she can’t. _

“We’re here,” Ben’s low, but deep, relaxing voice shakes her out of her thoughts.

She looks up and sees that they’re parked in the parking garage a couple of blocks away where he was parked last night. 

“Why didn’t you park in front of the building?” she asks. She begins to gather her stuff and opens the door, staring at him.

“Well, uh…” he stutters.

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me outside of work?”

“No, no. There was no一”

She interrupts, “It’s fine, Ben. You don’t have to say anything.”

She gets out of his car and doesn’t wait for him. She starts to walk ahead of him and hears a big sigh from behind her.

Rey is nearly reaching the building when she hears loud footsteps coming from behind her, and a tug on her arm.

“Rey, why are you walking so fast? At least let me finish,” Ben says.

She stops in the middle of the sidewalk and turns to him. She rolls her eyes, “What?”

He points to the street in front of The New York Times Building, “There was no parking, silly.”

She looks over his broad and big shoulders, and suddenly feels hot. She face palms herself, “God, I’m so bloody stupid,” She walks away from him and begins to walk towards the doors to the building, feeling a sudden rush of embarrassment. She doesn’t even try to turn around to see if Ben was trying to catch up to her again. 

She catches up to the elevators, and patiently waits with a crowd of people waiting for the doors to open.

Rey suddenly sees black, and feels sweaty palms cover her eyes.

“Peanut!”

“Peanut, as much as I love you, please get your sweaty palms off my eyeballs,” Rey says with a smile.

She turns around and sees Finn with an eyebrow arched and a smirk. 

“What is that look?” Rey asks.

“I think you know what I’m thinking,” he says.

Rey sees Ben approaching from afar, and turns her attention back to Finn, “No, peanut, I don’t.”

He begins to whisper so the surrounding crowd won’t hear, “Can you tell me why I’m finding out from other people why Ben was seen leaving your apartment?”

  
  



	6. Don't Hurt Yourself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for these long updates, quarantine has gotten to me badly. I hope you guys are taking care, and I hope you and your families are safe. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Thanks for the continuing support <3

Rey’s eyes widen, and she hesitates before she begins to speak again, “We were out late working on the story, that’s all.”

Finn arches his eyebrow, “So, he had to spend the night at your apartment?”

Rey turns around again, and sees Ben a foot away, “I’ll tell you later, okay?”

Finn leans away from her as he sees Ben approaching, and gives him a grin. Rey assumes he does it for a good first impression, but also to make it seem like they weren’t just gossiping about Ben.

Rey turns around and sees that Ben is right behind her ー his mouth near her ear ー forcing him to squeeze in because of the big crowd waiting for the elevator.

“Sorry,” Ben nervously chuckles and looks at her, “You okay? You seemed pretty worked up over… Something.”

Rey shakes her head, “It’s nothing,” she gives a small grin. _ Is it really nothing?  _ She’s positive that she’s overreacting, but she’s too stubborn to admit it to him. All of her life she has been looked down on by men, and she’s afraid Ben will see her the same way. But, he  _ did  _ compliment her last night when she was laying down on her bed and he was staring at her with his beautiful light brown eyes. What if this is some sort of trap? Ben Solo does work for the man that defamed his own mother and sided with him because of greediness. Rey can’t help but think that  _ maybe _ , what if he tries to steal her story to try and rise to the top?

The elevator doors ding and open, and Rey squeezes in with Finn and Ben by her side. The elevator is filled with awkward silence, so Rey decides to look forward and stare at the elevator doors to avoid any conversation.

“Hi, I’m Finn.”

Rey jumps, and turns around. She sees Ben and Finn shaking hands and smiling at each other.

“Ben. I’m one of the photographers here at this building,” he says.

“Nice to meet you,” Finn puts his hands in his pockets, “I’m a writer, just like Rey. She’s talented, isn’t she? I mean, she did get chosen to work on this case with you.”

Rey widens her eyes and looks at Finn with a ‘don’t-push-it’ look.

“Yes, yes, she’s quite talented,” Ben grins and nods his head.

Rey looks around the elevator and sees everyone staring at Ben and Finn. Just as Finn is about to say more, the elevator dings.

_ Thank God _ , Rey thinks to herself and exhales. She didn’t realize she was tense and holding her breath through most of their conversation.

She squeezes through the crowd and rushes to her cubicle. She takes a seat and places her reporter’s notebook on the desk to look through her notes and go over them with Snoke later.

“Here’s some tea. Royal English Breakfast, no cream and no sugar. Just how you like it,” Finn places a mug on the desk and sighs, “You okay?” He leans on the cubicle wall by Rey.

She doesn’t take her eyes off her notes, “Where’s Ben?”

“He stayed in the elevator, so I’m assuming he went to the dark room to look over something. I don’t know, why?”

She grabs the tea and takes a sip, “He’s driving me insane.”

Finn laughs, “I don’t believe that one bit.”

Rey turns her chair around and gives him a glare. 

“What?! You still haven’t even told me why he was at your apartment,” he stares at Rey waiting for an answer.

Except, she stays quiet. Rey knows she can trust Finn, but she’s not ready to open up about Ben to him 一 considering they have only been working together for a day.

“Wait, don’t tell me you guys一”

“No!” Rey spills some of her tea on the desk, stunned that Finn would even think that, “God, no!” She grabs paper towels nearby her neighbor’s cubicle and starts cleaning, “Look, nothing happened. I invited him in for some wine to celebrate and had a few glasses. I didn’t want him to drive while he was under the influence, that’s all.”

Finn continues to stare at Rey and drinks his coffee loudly.

She punches Finn’s shoulder lightly, “You know what? I’m offended that you would even think that I’d bang him on the first day that I met him,” she takes a seat in her office chair again.

“Peanut, don’t take offense. I’m only teasing,” he smiles, “You just get all shy and quiet around him.”

Rey takes a sip of her tea again, “Well, he is attractive, I’ll tell you that,” she shrugs and puts her mug down. She hopes that because she shrugged it off that Finn will stop pushing her for more answers.

“You’re right about that,” he says. 

She laughs lightly, and sees Snoke come out of his office. He motions with his finger to meet him where he is. 

Rey rolls her eyes when he turns his back around to his office, “Isn’t there a more professional way to call for a meeting or something?”

“You know how he is,” he pats Rey on the back lightly, “You need to tell me everything that’s happening with the story. We’ll catch up later, okay?”

Rey nods and walks away with the mug in her hand. 

She walks into Snoke’s office and finds Ben sitting across from Snoke. 

“Good morning,” she says and takes a seat next to Ben. She keeps her eyes on Snoke but she can feel Ben’s eyes all over her.

“Good morning, Rey,” he holds his hands together on his desk, “How’s the story coming along with you two?”

“I’ve gotten some nice photographs, but I feel like I could do better and would like to take some more,” Ben says.

“Ah, always an overachiever, Ben,” he smiles, “You’ll be alright. The deadline is in five days, so you still have some time.”

Rey sits up and laughs nervously, “Um, sir, I’m sorry, but that’s not enough time.”

“Haven’t you already gotten at least one interview?” Snoke asks.

“Yes, but it’s much, much more complicated than that, and I, of course, need more sources. This is a murder that isn’t even close to being solved for Chri-” 

She gets interrupted with the clearing of Ben’s throat.

“We can have it done in five days, sir,” Ben says.

_ Five days is not enough for a ground-breaking story, are you kidding me?! I don’t even have a rough draft yet! _ Rey thinks to herself. 

“Wonderful. Do you want to go over your notes with me quickly, Rey?”

She stares at him and hesitates, before pulling out her reporter’s notebook. She leans on his desk, “We interviewed the victim’s boyfriend, and of course he’s a suspect. His answers were a bit suspicious, so I want to question him further. But before we do that, I want to get his best friend’s side of the story. It seems like he’s got some sort of involvement,” she says.

Snoke leans back in his chair, and crosses his arms, “What are you doing sitting here then?”

She takes her elbows off his desk and sits up. Rey really can’t believe this is happening 一 he’s talking to her like she’s stupid and has never gone to college for a journalism major.

She scoffs and stands up, “I’ll have that story to you in five days, and I can guarantee it’s going to be one of the best stories ever written for The New York Times,” and leaves the room with Ben behind.

* * *

Rey is sitting at her cubicle and writing notes down in her reporter’s notebook for the interview. She feels stupid making a dramatic exit like that, especially with Ben being there in front of her. But, it felt good to talk to Snoke like that. She knows she’s going to prove everyone wrong. She knows all of this trouble will be worth it at the end.

Her thoughts get disrupted and she hears a light knock on her cubicle and looks up to see Ben. 

“Are you ready to go?” he asks. 

His deep quiet voice and the sun shining right towards his eyes 一 making them look hazel 一 just do things to Rey, and he’s not even trying.

She nods and gathers her reporter’s notebook and a pen. 

They walk to the elevator together and enter in complete silence. They’re standing side to side, and Rey has herself staring at the elevator doors again. 

“So, um,” Ben is the first to break the silence, “If you need help writing the story, I can help you. I’m not much of a writer myself, but it always helps to get a fresh pair of eyes to revise a story, right?”

Rey smiles and looks at Ben, “I really appreciate that. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The elevator doors open and they walk outside of the building.

“I got in contact with Detective Calrissian and Jacob’s best friend,” he pauses to take a look at a post-it note, “David Figueroa, is being held at a different station that isn’t too far from here. So, I guess we can just walk,” Ben says. 

Rey nods and doesn’t say anything. She’s noticed she’s been very quiet today, but she has her guard up.

They start walking north, and the heat wave in New York has gone away. The day is warm, and calm. And, the sun feels nice on Rey’s skin. It seems to brighten her mood a little bit.

“You’ve been quiet today, Rey,” he says when they stop at a light.

She tightens her grip on her notebook and suddenly gets nervous. She has to be honest with him if they’re going to be together for  _ five more days _ , or maybe even more.

Rey looks at him, “I’m sorry.”   
He looks taken aback, “Sorry for what?”

“Being stupid. I definitely overreacted earlier,” she looks away and runs a hand through her hair, “I just have my guard up, and I think everyone in this department is out to get me.”

The cars stop and the traffic light goes red, and Ben and Rey begin to cross the street.

“I appreciate your apology, but don’t worry about it. You don’t have to apologize,” Ben says.

Rey looks at him, and gives a small and genuine smile. 

They approach the police department building, and Rey takes a deep breath before entering. Ben looks at her, “If you need any back up with the questioning, I’ll be here.”

She nods, and his words calm her down. Suddenly, the tongue on the roof of her mouth releases and she’s realized she’s been tense. Rey will admit that she’s grateful that she has Ben by her side, because she knows no man in any department will take a woman seriously, and that’s the sad truth.

They enter the building, and approach an officer. 

“Hi, how may I help you?” the woman says.

Rey pulls out her press pass and shows it to the woman, “We’re here to interview David Figueroa.” 

Ben doesn’t say anything, and shows the officer his press pass as well. She nods and turns around to, what Rey assumes, call an officer to get permission to let them into the interrogation room.

The officer nods and turns back around to Rey, “Someone will be right out for you guys.”   
Rey nods, “Thank you, Officer,” and smiles.

Rey and Ben sit next to each other in dusty, gray chairs in the waiting room waiting to be called. 

A short Asian officer with black hair, put up in a bun, comes out by herself and makes eye contact with Rey, “Are you Rey?”

“Yes,” she gets up from her chair, “I’m here to interview David Figueroa,” she smiles and holds out her hand. Rey certainly didn’t expect a woman officer to come out.

“So I’ve been told,” she smiles and shakes Rey’s hand, “I’m Officer Tico, but you can call me Rose. It’s nice to see a woman leading the case.”

Rey laughs softly, “I can say the same thing.”

Ben clears his throat and holds out his hand to Rose, “I don’t mean to interrupt but I’m Ben, Rey’s partner and photographer for the case.”

_ Partner.  _ Hearing those words come out of his mouth makes Rey blush. 

“Ben Solo?!” The tiny woman shakes his hand exaggeratedly with a big smile on her face, “I’ve seen your photographs in the paper. They’re beautiful and taken so professionally.”

Rose hasn’t let go of his hand, and Ben chuckles, “Thank you, I really appreciate that,” he looks down at their hands awkwardly.

“Oh, sorry. I’ve been supporting your work since you started,” Rose lets go of her hand, “I do a little bit of photography on the side.”

Ben smiles and Rey just stares at him and she swears it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. It’s like his smile can lighten up an entire room. 

“I would love to see some of your photos,” he says, and looks at Rey, “Wouldn’t you?”

Rey snaps out of it, and clears her throat, “Yes, I would love to. Perhaps, we can even get some of your work featured in the paper,” she looks at Rose and smiles.

Rey feels embarrassed that she’s gotten caught staring by Ben. Could he have seen her from the corner of his eye? She all of a sudden feels warm, but tries to shrug it off since she’s basically working and has an Officer in front of her face.

Rose wiggles a little bit and Rey assumes she’s trying to keep her composure from her excitement, which makes her smile bigger.

“Thank you guys, that’s really nice of you both,” she takes out a set of keys from her pocket and begins walking towards a set of doors that lead to a hallway, “I’ll give you guys my business card after you guys are finished,” she looks back and gives a smile.

Rey and Ben both nod and decide to follow after they see Rose walking away from them.

The hallways look the same as the police station where Detective Calrissian works 一 dark, rusty, and dirty. As if this police station has been here since the early 1900’s. The only difference is that this morning seems to be busy for the department, and Rey assumes it’s because of this mysterious case. There’s detectives that are doing paperwork in some rooms, and some police officers that seem to be on their break 一 drinking their coffee and eating  _ Krispy Kreme _ doughnuts. 

Rose pauses outside of the interrogation room and begins unlocking the door, “Good luck,” she smiles.

Rey pulls out her reporter’s notebook, pen, and phone before opening the door. Ben stays behind Rey and keeps his camera wrapped around his neck, since photography isn’t allowed in the interrogation room.

They step inside the room, and see David Figueroa sitting with his arms on his thighs and his head down. He doesn’t flinch or even look up when Rey and Ben enter the room. 

The boy has both of his ears pierced, and has short hair, from what Rey can see.

She clears her throat,  _ for the second time today _ , and takes a seat in an uncomfortable chair across from David. “Hi David,” she greets. She gently sets her reporter’s notebook, pen, and phone on the table and looks at him. He looks up at Rey, with his brown eyes and thick eyebrows, and doesn’t say anything. 

“Are you okay with me recording our interview?” she asks. She hears Ben take a seat beside her because of the chair scraping the ground, and immediately eases.

David observes Ben, and shrugs, “Sure.”

She nods, and begins recording in her ‘Voice Memo’ app on her phone.

“How are you doing today?” Rey asks calmly.

“I’m feeling better now that you’re here, to be honest,” David gives a smirk, “You’re gorgeous.”

Ben stops taking notes, to which Rey didn’t even realize he had a paper and a pen  _ and  _ was taking notes, and looks up at him, “Aren’t you like 12?”

“I just know I’m old enough,” David responds.

Ben scoffs, and Rey furrows her brows,  _ Is this really happening right now?! _ She thinks to herself.

“I’ll just go ahead with the questioning then,” she says and looks at David. He’s staring at her with no emotion and a smirk on his face, and all of a sudden she feels irked.  _ Who is this boy and why is he so cocky? _

“I talked to your good friend, Jacob, last night, and he talked about you very briefly,” she says.

“All good things, I hope,” he responds.

Rey pauses for a moment, and continues, “He said that you guys were in a Best Buy parking lot smoking a blunt the night that his ex-girlfriend got murdered.”

David laughs, and doesn’t say anything, again. Rey looks at him confused, and waits for him to say something, but he never does. She looks at Ben and arches an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you going to say something? Why are you laughing?” Ben asks.

“That’s not what happened at all,” he says.

Rey writes some notes in her notebook, and looks up at him again, “Then, tell me what really happened, because you and I have more time to talk than I did with Jacob.”

“Good thing, too, because I can look at you all day,” David flirts again.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Ben says under his breath and gets up, “Do you think flirting with a journalist is going to get you out of this room?”

David looks at Ben with a serious look, “No, I truly just think I have a chance.”

Rey thinks it’s cute  _ and  _ funny how Ben is getting worked up over boys flirting with her, considering the fact that she basically admitted her sexual attraction to him only last night.

She laughs softly, and puts her arms on the table with her hands intertwined, “Sorry, not sorry. But, you don’t. Now, can we get through this questioning without you making a stupid remark?” She keeps her eyes locked on his eyes, trying to be intimidating.

David raises his eyebrows, and breaks eye contact, “Sure,” he pauses and takes a deep breath, “The reason why I was laughing is because Jacob lied to your guys’ faces. Yes, we did go to Best Buy and smoke a blunt, but he’s lying about the timeline.”

Rey writes quickly in her notebook, and doesn’t interrupt him.

“So, Maya got murdered between 2 to 2:30 p.m., according to what I’ve been told. I didn’t talk to her that day, but a mutual friend of ours did talk to her before she left campus, and they told me that Maya told them that she was gonna get food in the cafeteria that day so she wouldn’t lose her parking space.”

Rey looks up, “Who is this mutual friend of yours?”

“Leslie,” he responds.

She nods, and continues writing in her notebook. She looks in the corner of her eye, and sees that Ben is taking notes as well. She smiles to herself and can’t believe he’s deciding to help her.

“I didn’t have an afternoon class that day, so I went over to my girlfriend’s house. I know Jacob says that he was at the library, which is true. He told me a plan weeks prior that he actually wanted to  _ kill  _ Maya. He told me to take his car so he can convince Maya to eat lunch off campus using her car, again, so she wouldn’t lose her parking space. Like an hour later, he was actually at Best Buy and was calling me from a pay phone. He was obviously freaking out, and I can tell by the tone of his voice. So I drive over to where he is, which is the Best Buy parking lot, and see that he’s in his car standing by the trunk. That’s when he decides to show me her body, in his trunk.”

Rey gets shaken up, “I’m sorry… What?!”

Ben is already staring at Rey in shock when she looks over to him, and then back at David. 

“I felt the pressure that because he was my best friend, I had to help him. I feel like he somehow manipulated me into doing it too. So, I made this decision after arguing with him for 30 minutes. In the end, we decide to drive Maya’s car up a hill to cover his tracks and decide to carefully dump the body behind the school cafeteria by the garbage cans. That’s when we went to Best Buy to go smoke a blunt, it was still afternoon by that time,” David takes a deep breath and Rey realizes that he’s finished and drops her pen on her notebook.

Rey feels shaken up, and is astonished. She doesn’t know what to say and just stares at David for a long five seconds. She realizes she hasn’t said anything for a while, and goes through her notes to stall.

“I, um…” She takes a look at the clock on her phone, “I’m sorry, I have to excuse myself,” She says softly and begins to gather her things.

“I thought we had a lot of time,” David says with his hands out to his sides.

Rey stands up and nods, with her things in her arm, “We’ll reschedule, okay? Thank you for your time, and I apologize.” 

Ben stands up suddenly, and looks between Rey and David in confusion, but decides to follow her out anyway. Rose is waiting outside of the interrogation room and Rey assumes she’s been timing and waiting for them this entire time.

“Finished already?” Rose looks at her watch, “You had like 30 more minutes with him.”

Rey nods, and leads Rose into a corner where no one can hear them, “Rose, he basically confessed who did it, I…” She sighs, “I’m only an intern, and this is way above my pay grade. Actually, I don’t even get paid,” she laughs softly.

Rose looks at Rey, and grins, “I understand this is scary, but I believe you can do it. Our detectives will continue the interrogation, and look over the security footage. But, you can always reschedule with David, or just go over the detective’s notes once they’re finished. It’s your choice,” she hands Rey a business card, “Just go ahead and give me a call whenever you’re ready,” she smiles.

“Thank you, Rose, you’ve been incredibly helpful,” Rey says and holds out her hand.

Rose takes her hand and gives her a quick hug, “You’ll be okay,” she says.

Rey nods and looks at Ben, shaking her head into the direction of the door. She begins walking out once she sees that Ben is following.

Once they have exited the building, Rey stands in front of the building and looks at Ben, “Why aren’t you freaking out?”

Ben takes out his camera and begins to take pictures of the police station. It seems like he’s just trying to take as much content as he can for this story at this point. Rey feels helpless 一 she feels like a terrible partner for Ben. He deserves someone who’s a professional at this job, and who knows better.

“I’m internally freaking out,” he takes the camera off his eye and looks at Rey.

“You have a way of not showing it,” she replies, and looks around at the citizens walking past.

“Rey, I’m with you on this. We basically just got his confession,” he grins, “Maybe it was your charm on him.”

Rey rolls her eyes, “I appreciate you trying to be comforting, but right now isn’t really the time, Ben,” she crosses her arms, “I’m starting to have doubts, not only in this job, but in myself too. It’s like I told Rose, this is way above my pay grade, but I’m not even getting paid!” She begins to pace and pauses to look at Ben, “I don’t think I have the capability to do this.”


End file.
